


The Man in the Chicken Suit

by EAI



Category: DC's Legends of Tomorrow (TV), The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Fluff and Hurt/Comfort, Len is a former addict, M/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-16
Updated: 2018-07-16
Packaged: 2019-06-11 11:10:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 975
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15314214
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EAI/pseuds/EAI
Summary: “For her, Lenny… she needs to know who you are, and how much you meant to me. I don’t want to introduce her to you from albums or a gravestone. I want her to know and see who her uncle is, I want her to love him for all he is. You worth so much to us, you’re not leaving just yet.”





	The Man in the Chicken Suit

**Author's Note:**

> unbeta'd, english is not my first language. 
> 
> so this is my first fic in a long while, and i know i haven't completed most of my other works but ehh... i'll find time for them, eventually. 
> 
> enjoy as much as you can, because i will make you cry with this story.

 

 

 

“—breathe in, breathe out. Come on, Lenny, please… in and out.”

He tries.

Really, he tries. But he can’t fucking breathe, and his chest hurts so much. His eyes are tightly shut, hiding them in the crook of his arm as he fails to stop the tears from running down his cheeks. His mind is in chaos – he doesn’t want to feed his crave, but it’s his fix and he’ll feel better afterwards, even if it’s only for a little while.

“Lenny.”

Lisa.

His angel of a little sister, where her presence is a comforting warmth beside him.

“Listen to me,” her voice trembles, plush lips against the back of his sweaty neck. She has one of her hands resting and soothing on his rapidly beating chest, and the other gripping on to Len’s wrist, firm and begging him not to consume whatever poison he has inside the bottle of pills in his clenched fist.

“For _her_ , Lenny… she needs to know who you are, and how much you meant to me. I don’t want to introduce her to you from albums or a gravestone. I want her to know and see who her uncle is, I want her to love him for all he is. You worth so much to us, you’re not leaving just yet.”

They are huddled together at one corner of the bathroom, toiletries scatter around them in the pool of rushing cold water. Lisa has her chest glued to Len’s back, cradling him in her arms. Len can feel the bump of her stomach, and _baby’s_ incessant, little kicks – like she’s fussing over him, and screaming at him, _don’t be stupid_!

He sobs because this relapse is just too painful. He **needs** it. He **craves** for it.

“I’m not letting you go, Lenny. No more of this, okay?”

But he loosens his grip off the bottle, hearing it plopping somewhere out of reach and holds onto Lisa’s hand on his chest, as she gathers him close just as tightly.

For her.

He’ll do it for her, and Lisa.

Len bears a hatred so deep of what his father did to him, and his mother who left him in the abusive hands of his old man. He isn’t proud of what he has done to his health in return, how sickly and explosive he was. Yet he manages, with his sister’s help and Mick, to turn over a new chapter and be clean and happy for the rest of his life. The notion makes him giddy, for the first time in his life, and he looks forward to it. He gets a new job at Jitters as a barista, after a few months of rehab and befriending Sara, the shop’s sparkplug of an owner. It’s not much, but it’s enough – he likes brewing a mishmash of expensive teas and grinding coffee beans to bits, and serving sets of breakfast meals on the side doesn’t hurt.

Then, in the midst of happiness, Lisa gives birth – to a healthy, and beautiful baby girl.

And Len gets to see her, finally, after nine months of waiting. This plump little thing, snuggling and cooing in his arms, with peaches for cheeks is his niece.

His niece, that sounds flattering. Like it’s an achievement.

Elisabeth Michelle Rory.

Ellie.

Len watches little Ellie grow, from a babbling and pooping little thing to a bubbly toddler who crawls in reverse to a rascal of a youngster. He is her partner in crime; takes care of her when Lisa and Mick are too caught up in their jobs, secretly cooks her meals without vegetables, enjoys coloring and drawing with her on the walls or the kitchen table, goes shopping for dolls and clothes for her, eats rows of chocolate ice creams with her until they puke their guts out, snaps ugly pictures of one another and together they ask Lisa or Mick which one is the worst (they pick one of his because they are idiots).

For six years, life is great.

Until he receives a somber call one afternoon, from a doctor who says – something terrible has happened.

Dread washes over him as Sara and her girlfriend Ava drive him to the hospital, they run and pass through crowded hallways, and he demands one of the nurses at the counter to tell him where the fuck is his niece. They take him to Ellie’s room shortly after, and Len pauses by the door, alarmed to see his niece so fragile and small on the hospital bed.

Ellie’s awake, and she cries as loudly as she can when Len scrambles forward and takes her in his arms.

“It’s okay, Ellie, it’s okay. I’m here…” he says, attempting an even voice but fails.

“I t-tried to get to Mommy a-and Daddy… but—“

And she doesn't stop crying, spouting her sorries until her doctor comes in and gives her a touch of morphine to help her sleep off the pain. Ellie's lucky, the doctor says. Sara and Ava then offer to look after her when the doctor asks Len to follow him, out of the room and straight to the morgue. It's like he's living a nightmare, watching his sister and brother-in-law's faces bashed in and charred faces staring up the ceiling from body bags. Cold, and lifeless. The doctor gives him his condolences, they were dead before rescuers could even get them out of the burning car. After a long while, Len mumbles a thank-you for saving his niece, and decided to take a walk to ease off the numbness in every inch of his body. He finds himself at the rooftop, somewhere he can safely shed his tears, shaking at his loss and whimpering at the tragedy weighing down on him. 

He crumples against the wall, cries and mourns for Mick. For Ellie, and Lisa.

"Lisa... don't leave me."

 

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> i imagine abby ryder fortson from ant-man 2015 as ellie. see you next time!


End file.
